It's a dirty job, but some MBA has to do it

News

...But it is the energy sector that is among the most vibrant,
whether in oil and gas, nuclear or renewables. Marie-Jose
Beaudin, head of careers services at McGill's Desautels
Faculty of Management in Canada, says she has noticed a growing
interest in what she describes as "dirty" industries such as metals
and mining, engineering and even tobacco. She believes that this is
happening because students see them as more stable than finance.
And they also believe that they will offer better global
opportunities at a time when jobs in many other sectors are still
concentrated in the America or Western Europe.

Ms Beaudin also points out that manufacturing and engineering
firms have improved the way that they target MBA-level candidates.
"In many ways they've aped what banks and tech companies have
pioneered and are now using this to snatch the best people away,"
she says. "We consequently now see students genuinely excited about
working for companies that in the past just weren't considered sexy
or dynamic at all."

How long will this triumph of dirty jobs will last? Susan Klein
of the careers department at MIT Sloan reckons there are still
plenty of students who hanker after a job in financial services,
but who now view it is a long-term option rather than one for
immediately after graduation. And even if banking has become
unfashionable, and some of the brightest and best students are
looking at less risky industries, memories of the financial
meltdown of 2009 are bound to fade. When they do, the lure of the
banks' big bucks will no doubt put them at the top of the MBA
career tree once more...